ay that has the effect of encouraging viewers to stay tuned for the news while they also view the commercials. That explains the use of the "tease," the name given to on-air "come-on" phraseology that forecasts upcoming news much as carnival barkers forecast what is inside the tent (pp. 27-8). For example: Tornado. Find out where it hit. Film at eleven. Such news teases are embedded not only in entertainment programming. Postman and Powers explain:
It starts while you're watching the entertainment shows before the news. Whether you know it or not, we are programmed to watch the news, by programmers. . . . So the United Couch Potatoes of America sit and sit, and sit, and before the know it, Marsha and Rick have hooked us into their news program, promising "team coverage," no less, of today's latest disaster. . . . This is why the best news program may not have ratings as high as a news program with a strong lead-in. It may not be fair but it is television (Postman & Powers, 1992, p. 29).
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